Zongzi 粽子

Zongzi (Chinese: 粽子) is a traditional Chinese rice dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves, they are cooked by steaming or boiling. In the Western world, they are also known as rice dumplings or sticky rice dumplings.


Zongzi

Zongzi are traditionally eaten during the Duanwu Festival (端午节) which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, and commonly known as the "Dragon Boat Festival" in English. The festival falls each year on a day in late-May to mid-June in the Western calendar.

Chinese people eat Zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival to memorialize Qu Yuan, an advisor in the court of Chu during the Warring States period of ancient China who was exiled by the emperor for perceived disloyalty. Qu Yuan had proposed a strategic alliance with the state of Qi in order to fend off the threatening state of Qin, but the emperor didn’t buy it and sent Qu Yuan off to the wilderness. Unfortunately, Qu Yuan was right about the threat presented by the Qin, which soon captured and imprisoned the Chu emperor. The next Chu king surrendered the state to their rivals. Upon hearing the tragic news, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River in Hunan Province.

In memory of him, every year on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, the day he drowned himself, dragon boat races, which are said to represent the search for his body, are held, and the Chinese people eat zongzi, which was originally thrown into the river to keep the fishes from eating the body of Qu Yuan. An interesting legend of Zongzi has been passed down through generations from ancient China.

🐲The Legend Behind Zongzi

Variations of Zongzi





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